Women's hockey hopes dashed in Kazan

India's bid for a spot in the Olympics women's hockey event was dented by a 1-2 loss to the Netherlands. They must now win all their games to stay afloat.

Written by Press Trust of India

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Kazan (Russia):

India suffered a huge setback in their quest to book a spot for Beijing when they went down 1-2 to Netherlands Antilles in their second match of the women's hockey Olympic qualifiers here on Sunday.

The loss dealt a severe blow to India's chances of making it to Beijing and now have to win their remaining matches to keep its chances alive.

Claire Visser's solo following India's abortive penalty corner attack gave Netherlands Antilles the lead in the 31st minute.

Young Rani Devi got equalised eight minutes into the second half, but even as India went in search of the winning goal and wasted three penalty corners, another counter-attack got the tiny nation their proud moment.

"Never a moment we thought we could win this match," said their elated captain Ernestina Schreuder.

"This was the best match since I took over the team in 2005," said Bas Swildens, the coach of the winning team.

"We once beat Spain in a friendly. This is totally a different game. Indian statistics must be terrible. They entered the circle more than 20-25 times against a couple of times by us. This victory is definitely a boost," he added.